【Peggy Markoff】

Who you gonna believe -- Warren Beatty,Peggy Markoff Emma Stone, or some other, even weirder version of the truth?

Beatty told millions of people watching the Oscars' jaw-dropping, history-distorting mishap Sunday night that he mistakenly called out La La Landas the Best Picture winner -- before it went to Moonlightin a stunning turnaround -- because he had the wrong envelope in his hand. That envelope, he said, "said 'Emma Stone, La La Land.'"

SEE ALSO: Oscars shocker: 'La La Land' announced as Best Picture, but 'Moonlight' wins

His suggestion: Someone had mistakenly handed him the envelope for Stone's Best Actress win, which she'd accepted just moments before.

"WARREN, WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!" #Oscars pic.twitter.com/bBmalDLzCJ

— Mashable (@mashable) February 27, 2017

But minutes later, Stone had a verydifferent version of events. Speaking with reporters backstage, she lavished Moonlightwith praise, then said:

"I also was holding my Best Actress in a Leading Role card that entire time. So whatever story ... I don't mean to start stuff, but whatever story that was, I had that card. So I'm not sure that happened. And I really wanted to talk to you guys first."

Leonardo DiCaprio and Emma Stone just moments after her Best Actress win for "La La Land." Credit: Christopher Polk/Getty ImagesGetty Images

Though this seems to be setting up a he-said, she-said for the ages, there is evidence to suggest that Beatty was truly not to blame.

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Moonlightwriter/director Barry Jenkins, also speaking to reporters backstage, said the Academy had offered "no explanation" for the mishap.

"Things just happened," Jenkins said. "I saw two cards? Things just happen, you know. I wanted to see the card, to really see the card, and Warren refused to show the card to anyone before he showed it to me."

About that same time, Los Angeles Timesreporter Amy Kaufman tweeted that a colleague, positioned just offstage, witnessed the moment when someone first realized there had been a mistake -- and yes, it involved Beatty holding the wrong envelope:

Report from @JeffreyLAT backstage: Mid @LaLaLand acceptance, stage hand in wings said "Oh, f-ck. Oh my God. He got the wrong envelope."

— Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA) February 27, 2017

And a Chicago Sun-Timescolumnist, watching from home, captured this image:

I was recording the #oscars to a hard drive. This frame clearly shows that Warren Beatty was given the “Actress In A Leading Role” envelope. pic.twitter.com/PL3eA8Ds1i

— Andy Ihnatko (@Ihnatko) February 27, 2017

Did a stagehand give Beatty a backup envelope? Did he try to cover up his own blunder? Did Stone's envelope grow legs and leap into Beatty's hands?

No one knows exactly yet -- and as reporters pressed Jenkins for details on the "two envelopes" theory, the Academy's media wrangler immediately shut those questions down.

And that's when Jenkins summed it all up pretty well: "The last 20 minutes of my life have been insane."

Until we find out how this happened, the next couple of days may not be any calmer -- or less insane.

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Featured Video For You

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If 'La La Land' was directed by David Lynch, it'd look something like this...

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